Episode Summary

Game 1: Russ Hodges (6/18/1910 - 4/19/1971) - "Baseball Announcer (Currently Announcing World Series)" (as Mystery Guest #1 but the panel was not blindfolded; he signed in as "Mister X" and the normal questioning format was used; salaried; see notes below) Game 2: Mrs. Betty Landes - "Tests Razor Blades" (salaried; she microscopically tests razor blades for the American Safety Razor Company in Stanton, NJ; from Greenville, VA) As of 2006, American Safety Razor Company is still in business. They have manufactured razor blades since 1875. In addition to a full line of shaving products, ASR produces a wide variety of industrial blades. They have a web page: http://www.personna.com Game 3: Melina Mercouri (10/18/1920 - 3/6/1994) (as Mystery Guest #2) Melina signed in using the Greek alphabet; see notes below. INTRUDER ON THE SET - SEE NOTES BELOW . .moreless

BASEBALL HALL OF FAME TRIBUTE: GSN aired this episode on July 27, 2006 as part of a month-long airing of "WML?" episodes with at least one game featuring a figure from the world of baseball, as a tribute to the Baseball Hall of Fame on its 70th anniversary. It had previously aired in regular rotation on GSN on March 24, 2006. - W-B (2006)

REVIEW: This was probably one of the wildest nights in the history of WML. Of course, any time Victor Borge is on the show there has to be some anticipation of wildness. However, nothing he did would compare to what happened at the beginning of the mystery guest round. The evening began normal enough with the appearance of legendary New York/San Francisco Giants announcer Russ Hodges taking the stage. Normally, the panel would have been blindfolded, but since Russ really hadn't been seen on television that much, the WML producers decided to forego the panel's blindfolds and have Russ sign in as "Mr. X." In fact, the ploy nearly worked, but Dorothy made the last second save when she figured out that he was an announcer. Unfortunately, in the second game, the panel wasn't as lucky. They were so far off the beaten path that John decided to call time and flipped all the cards, so the razor blade tester won the full prize by default. Then the fun really began. Just after Melina Mercouri signed in and took her seat next to John, an intruder hit the stage and was promptly ushered off the stage while the panel was still blindfolded. After John explained what had happened, the game resumed and Arlene made the correct identification of Melina, who was on the show to promote her upcoming picture "Tokapi." Despite all the weirdness that went on, the panel still had a good night. - Sargebri (2006)

WORLD SERIES: As was mentioned during the intros and in the post game chat with Russ Hodges, the World Series was about to begin between the National League champion San Francisco Giants and the defending champs, the New York Yankees of the American League. What made this Series so interesting was the fact that it marked the first time that one of the expatriate New York teams returned to New York to play in the Fall Classic, since both the Giants and the Dodgers left town and moved to San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively. As for the series itself, the Yankees beat the Giants 4 games to 3. - Sargebri (2006)

MELINA MERCOURI: As was mentioned earlier, Melina Mercouri was on the show to promote the film "Tokapi." Of course, she became an international star after her role as a prostitute in the film "Never on Sunday." However, after several years of acting, she retired from the entertainment world to go into politics. She was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1977 and eventually was named to a cabinet post when she was named Minister of Culture. - Sargebri (2006)

KILGALLEN WATCH!!! Dorothy really looked as if she really had a snootfull before she arrived at the studio. She spoke slow and deliberate and there was a definite slur in her speech. Also, her hair seemed somewhat disheveled. Of course, within a few months, she would be returning to the LeRoy Sanitarium for another attempt to purge herself of her dependency problems. - Sargebri (2006)

(1) "WML?" SPONSOR WATCH: Tonight's episode is the first to be sponsored by Geritol, which is made by J.B. Williams Company. Geritol will be an alternate "WML?" sponsor over the next few years. Geritol had been an early sponsor of another Goodson-Todman game show, "To Tell the Truth," from the earliest months of the program's run through about 1958.(2) THAT FAMOUS ADDRESS BOOK: There was some irony to Melina Mercouri's mystery guest appearance tonight, insofar as the movie she was promoting, "Phaedra." Another co-star of the film was onetime "WML?" guest panelist and mystery guest Anthony "Tony" Perkins. Back on EPISODE #589 of November 19, 1961, when the mystery guest was Bob Hope, Dorothy Kilgallen mentioned in the post-game chat that it was Perkins whom she had in mind when she asked the now-famous "lost address book" question, which she would subsequently pose to Jack Palance, on EPISODE #722 of July 19, 1964; Bob Cummings, on EPISODE #727 of August 23, 1964; and Sean Connery, on EPISODE #784 of October 3, 1965. Dorothy only mentioned Perkins' name on the first instance of these four episodes. In none of the latter three shows did she ever mention Perkins' name once. Based on the 1961 show, it was extremely likely that it was Perkins who had lost his address book out of a helicopter while flying over the Greek Isles, during the making of "Phaedra."(3) "WML?" CREW CREDITS WATCH: Alan J. Shalleck is credited tonight as associate director, filling in for Alvin R. Mifelow. - W-B

Melina Mercouri signed in using characters from the Greek alphabet. This is obvious due to a few key elements: the two Rs in her last name look like Ps, as in written Greek; the L in her first name is closer to an inverted V, a Greek lambda; Greek has no letter C, but instead a K; and the Es look like Greek Es. - Dan Albertson

Melina Mercouri promoted her 1962 film, "Phaedra." It was not released yet, but Arlene Francis had seen it on a "sneak preview" and congratulated Melina on her work. Her previous film from 1960, "Never On Sunday" (The Greek title is "Pote tin Kyriaki") was also mentioned. - Suzanne (2004)

MAN WANDERS ON STAGE! A memorable and extremely unusual moment occured on this live broadcast episode. While the mystery guest game was just beginning, a burly man walked out on stage and began to speak in front of the audience. John Daly calmly told him that there was a game to be played, and the man was escorted off stage by the announcer Johnny Olson and Executive Producer Gil Fates. The unwelcome man was actually performing a TV commercial for a video dating service, but he was in "the wrong place at the wrong time" and no charges were filed. The blindfolded panel was very confused as to what was happening. It was all over in a matter of seconds. - Suzanne

Melina took the stage and the questioning started. The unexpected man came up to Melina and John from stage left, began spouting his drivel, and John said, "We have a small problem. Gil, would you get the relieving unit in here? Schedule Two." This was evidently John Daly's code word for "SECURITY!" Daly's microphone was then turned off at that point, and the intruder was led away. This was a rare on-air reference to Executive Producer Gil Fates. - Robair (Robert Mackey)

Legendary New York/San Francisco Giants broadcaster Russ Hodges was in town covering the World Series when he appeared on this episode. However, the panel wasn't blindfolded because the WML producers felt confident that the panel wouldn't recognize him because he wasn't on television very often. He did sign in as "Mr. X" to avoid name recognition. The Yankees beat the Giants this year. It turned out to be the last World Series victory for the Yankees until their 1977 triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers. - Brian

Russ Hodges was a San Francisco Giants Baseball Team Radio Announcer. Russ coined, "Bye bye baby" as the only way to "call" a home run! He broadcast for the White Sox, Cubs, Reds, Senators, and Yankees before performing for two decades as the voice of the Giants. He would salute each Giants home run with his trademark "Bye bye baby!" and was heard on New York's WMCA and San Francisco's KSFO until his sudden death of a heart attack in 1971. John Daly and Russ also discussed Russ' good friend, broadcaster Mel Allen. Mel's home-run call, "That ball is going, going, gone!" became a trademark, as did his frequent exclamation, "How about that!" - Suzanne

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